Overview
You support the work of service experts by providing them with information:
● Service experts need information about your plant and the faulty system in order to provide
quick support.
For additional information, refer to the "Plant documentation (Page 65)" section below.
● Service experts need information from the diagnostic buffer of the CPU in order to analyze
the cause of a CPU fault.
For additional information, refer to the "How to read the CPU diagnostic buffer (Page 66)"
section below.
● A memory dump facilitates the analysis of the cause of the CPU fault.
For additional information, refer to the "CPU fault - preparing diagnostics (Page 66)" section
below.
● Backing up the diagnostics files facilitates the analysis of an OS fault.
For additional information, refer to the "How to back up the diagnostic data of the PCS 7
● You can take all measures necessary to enable remote diagnostics via "remote access".
For additional information, refer to the "Remote diagnostics of a PCS 7 system (Page 69)"
section below.
6.2.2
Plant documentation
Maintaining system information
Information on the components of your system is among the most important information
needed for successful repair.
You need this information in the following situations:
● When you are planning maintenance
● When you contact the hotline for assistance
Continual maintenance of this information shortens downtimes in case of a fault. Therefore,
always keep up-to-date lists (in a database or in a table, for example) containing the following
data:
● Plant
● Unit
● Location in plant
● Components
● Versions
– Hardware (version, in case of replacement)
– Firmware
– Software
– Libraries used in the S7 program
Failure - What next?
6.2 Preparing for expert support
Service support and diagnostics (V8.0)
Service Manual, 03/2012, A5E02779775-02
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